Congratulations Dean Krueger Elementary, on your new Shade Structure!!
Children enjoy the shade of their new shade structure, no matter what time of the day recess is, playground equipment is accessible and cool without danger of burn to their skin. Now students can have their workout and fresh air, returning to their classrooms refreshed and revived ready to learn.
The Environmental Protection Agency together with the National Weather Service have developed the UV Index. This helpful tool allows you to find out what the UV index is for where you are located.
What exactly is the UV index? The UV index is the amount of UV radiation that reaches the earth at any given location.
The earth was created with a layer of ozone to protect and shield us from harmful UV radiation, but over time this layer has depleted as a result of climate change leaving us more vulnerable to the sun’s rays. The depletion of ozone layer varies, and added to that different seasons and weather patterns result in different amounts of UV radiation that reach the Earth. In order to for us to be able to take care and practice sun-safe behavior it is important for us to check the UV index from time to time, especially when we are planning outdoor activities or trips away from home. The reading is done as a prediction of the next day’s ultraviolet raditiation level on a scale ot 1-11. One must also watch out for UV Alerts that are posted by the EPA when predictions of UV levels are unusually high, cautioning us to take extra special care when outdoors.
Try it out, access this link to find out what your UV index is tomorrow, and especially when planning your next picnic! http://www.epa.gov/sunwise/uvindex.html
Most of us believe that once the weather turns and autumn becomes winter, we no longer need to protect our skin from the suns’ harmful uv rays. This is a misconception as uv radiation takes place even on overcast and cloudy days. Year round protection needs to be practiced no matter the season. Dr. Darrell Rigel, a clinical professor of dermatology at NYU, conducted a survey on women to find out how much they knew about ultraviolet light. The study revealed that most women actually receive more uv exposure than they knew with 16 percent of participants knowing that UVA exposure can actually occur indoors through glass windows, and 18 percent only understood the difference of UVA and UVB rays . To help us understand more about the difference please find below the following information that we hope will help you to understand more about UVA and UVB rays.
The difference between UVA and UVB
Climate change continues to influence our behavior more than ever before, not only with the environment but even with fashion and trends. As health becomes a dominant factor in our every day choices, health trends are also affecting the outward appearance as can be evidenced on todays fashion runways, with the preference of a more natural look. The new look today is no longer about “tanned skin”, and a glowing natural looking skin that looks ‘healthy’ is seen as more fashionable.
Influenced by a group of beauty editors, the Skin Cancer Foundation were inspired to create a campaign that would spread the word on “Go with your own glow!”, a message that spreads the fact that tanning is no longer desirable or fashionable and is obsolete in todays lifestyle. A natural glowing healthy skin is now ‘the look’ to have.
To learn more about the “Go with your own glow” campaign, please visit http://www.skincancer.org/content/view/272/19/
Posters for the campaign may be viewed at,
http://www.skincancer.org/images/stories/Glow/hat-poster.pdf
http://www.skincancer.org/images/stories/Glow/tree-poster.pdf
http://www.skincancer.org/images/stories/Glow/parasol-poster.pdf